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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23791627">I Just Want To Dance With You</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rohirrim_Writer/pseuds/Rohirrim_Writer'>Rohirrim_Writer</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Frozen (Disney Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Western, Dog Sven (Disney), Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Ranching AU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 22:28:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>13,310</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23791627</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rohirrim_Writer/pseuds/Rohirrim_Writer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Anna can resist her hot new boss.<br/>She can do it.<br/>She definitely can.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anna/Kristoff (Disney), Minor or Background Relationship(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>97</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I Just Want To Dance With You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was my contribution for the Discord for 4/20 Blaze It (with smut). It's only 4/22, so close enough right?<br/>Special thanks to Robin for all her prompts that helped me get through this monster (that was only meant to be 5k mind).<br/>And to Ronnie for the hype. You complete me.<br/>And to Liv and Molly. You know what you did.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Her father had been less than thrilled when she’d defiantly chosen to major in Veterinary Science. She’d gone off to Utah State University, bright eyed and bushy tailed, despite the consternation of her parents. Now, Anna pulled into the driveway of the two story ranch house with a sense of pride. At 26 she finally had something more to show for herself than the diploma packed away in one of the boxes in the back of her car. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She took a minute to get her jittering nerves under wraps before she stepped out, shutting the car door behind her. The home before her, there was no other word for it, house felt too soulless, had a wrap around porch complete with a swing big for two. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The weather had just started to change, leaving patches of snow scattered across the yard, but she could see where flower beds usually sprang with life. Tiny, green shoots peeked out of the soil. A greenhouse poked out from the backyard along with beds of winter veg, well-tended behind their gated fencing, much different than the barbed wire that had marked her journey here, to keep the critters out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She made her way up the stairs to the screen door. She propped it open with her hip to knock on the forest green door behind it. She could hear someone bustling about through the wood, followed by a call of, “Just a minute!” Anna tried not to jump from foot to foot as she prepared to meet her future employer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, you must be Anna! Come on in, dear!” The woman who welcomed her, this went far beyond a formal greeting, was all open arms pulling her in and shooing her inside. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.” Anna held her hand out to the woman, but she waved her off.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh none of that ma’am this, sir that, nonsense here. You can call me Belinda, dear.” She talked as she walked deeper into the house, leaving Anna no choice but to follow her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come in, grab a seat.” Mrs. Bjorgman-Belinda-had led them to an open sitting room that connected seamlessly to a kitchen and dining area. Only, it wasn’t anything like the sitting rooms that Anna grew up frequenting. It’s got a worn, floral couch and two large recliners covered in beautiful quilts with intricate patterns. The DVD’s are all out in the open, stacked in a bookshelf by the TV. There are three large windows that created a little nook that had been filled with dog beds and pillows. The wall opposite the TV hosted a framed copy of a family photo, though Belinda’s hair hadn’t gone grey yet in it, so it must have been fairly old. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wow. Did you make these yourself?” She gingerly traced the stitching of the blanket on the arm of the smaller of the two armchairs she sat in. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh no! I’m afraid I’m downright awful at sewing. These hands weren’t made for delicate work.” She held up her hands as if to further illustrate her point. They do look like sturdy hands. They have freckles and sunspots and deep wrinkles around the knuckles. They were the kind of hands one earned from a lifetime of living, fully. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Me too. My parents paid for a few lessons but I can’t even sew on a button.” Anna wondered if one day her hands would look like that too, mother’s hands. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well I’ll tell you what, you take care of the cows and I’ll take care of any buttons, how about that?” Anna’s mother had always given her damaged clothes to charity. Here, so far from the hustle and bustle of the city they lived by the motto, “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without”. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’ve got a deal.” Anna felt a warmth for the woman sitting across for her, despite the little time they’d spent together. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Have you eaten? You’ve had a long drive here. You must be starving!” Anna had already eaten a few hours before, a drive through lunch that hadn’t been very filling, but it felt rude to deny the offer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I’m fine! Really-” She was a little hungry, but she could wait until she got back into town. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nonsense! I’ve always got something in the cooler. Let me whip you up something while we wait for the boys to come in, it won’t take but a minute. We can get to know each other.” She was already in the kitchen by the time she finished speaking. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright.” Whatever this woman came up with would be better than the lukewarm dinner she had to look forward to. Anna moved to sit at the kitchen table. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now I already know about your job history. We’re lucky to have you, but what about you Anna? Where are you from?” She pulled bowls from the cupboards, talking just a but louder over the noise. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, my family is from Maryland.” Elsa lived in Quebec now with her girlfriend, so it didn’t really feel like home to her anymore. Never had, really. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s an awfully long way away!” Sometimes it didn’t feel like far enough. “Your family must miss a sweetie like you bunches!” She took a fascinating number of ingredients out of the large, double doored fridge. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, it was hard for them when I left for school.” It felt like a lie, despite being more of a deflection. What could she say? My parents and I haven’t spoken beyond the obligatory birthday calls and on holidays in three years? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sure you made plenty of friends though. Maybe even a man?” Anna scrunched up her nose. As if she’d had time for a man while juggling graduate school, internships, and placements. The last guy she’d gone out with had been Olaf during her undergrad, and he’d turned out to be gay. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, no. I’m single. It would have been difficult to move otherwise.” She remembered trying to find an apartment after her break up with Hans and nearly shuddered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No man? A pretty girl like you? I don’t believe it.” Anna didn’t know what to say, she was blushing bright red, she felt it. “Well have you found a place to stay yet? It can be a bit difficult, around these parts.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah-no. Actually I haven’t. But there’s a motel not too far away, it’ll do for now.” Belinda looked positively scandalized at the notion. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hmm-the hired help has a little house out by the barn where we put them up, but it’s full, and I’m sure you wouldn’t want to live in a house with a bunch of men.” Anna can see she’d taken to the idea like a dog to a bone. She doubted there was any putting her off the trail now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s very kind of you ma’am, but I’m okay-” This woman would be erecting her a house out back if she didn’t put a stop to this somehow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nonsense! We have a spare room upstairs. It was my daughter’s but she’s married now.” Anna supposed it was as good a compromise as any. “And I thought I told you to call me Belinda?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you’re sure.” She tried not to show the relief she felt. She couldn’t ask for a better place to stay while she looked for something more permanent.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am. I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t. It’s going to waste as it is and I’d hate to think of you holed up in a motel for the foreseeable future.” Anna let out the breath she’d been holding since she handed over the key to her old apartment and took to the road. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That would actually be amazing.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s decided then. And I won’t hear of you paying rent. We’ll call Kristoff up here and he can help unload your things. You have them with you, don’t you?” She said as she set a fully loaded plate down in front of Anna. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It turned out Kristoff was Belinda’s, 6’4” and built like a brick shithouse, son. He trudged into the kitchen where Anna was being grilled by his mother while she stuffed her full of chicken salad and ambrosia. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You radio’d, Ma?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kristoff!” She enveloped him in a warm hug. “This is Anna Ardel. The veterinarian. She’s going to be moving into Paige’s old room. Would you mind helping her carry in a few things?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course, Ma.” His benevolence for his mother did not extend to her apparently. He gave her a cold handshake before jerking his head toward the front door. “Better get started. I gotta put out hay in the north pasture before sundown.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was telling her she was an inconvenience. She didn’t know why it made her swallow hard against the rock in her throat. Perhaps because Belinda had been so warm and accepting. Anna dared to feel at home. How could she have forgotten this wasn’t meant for her? Nor would it ever be. This was temporary. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looked down at the sandwich in her hand. Jesus, she’d overstepped already. She stood, embarrassed, and braced her shoulders and her heart as she followed him out to her car. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It took a few trips between them, to get all of the boxes and suitcases upstairs, but not nearly as long as it would have if she’d been alone. When they were done and she’d thanked him, he gave a gruff, “Don’t mention it,” before stalking off to a four wheeler parked by the kitchen door. It roared to life and vehicle and rider rode off into the distance. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna settled in better than she could have imagined. If she’d been worried about feeling like an outsider those first few days, it was for nothing. Belinda’s husband Cliff had come in that night, stomping the mud from his boots on the porch before leaving by the door, to greet his wife. He planted a hardy kiss on her lips in his woolen socks. Belinda had protested, “We have a guest, Casanova!” He hadn’t relented easily. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Both Belinda and Cliff were excellent employers. They paid her fairly, respected her hours as much as possible, despite the constant access to her, and treated her like part of the family. They got their money’s worth for labor, that was for sure. Anna was up every day long before the sun rose and came in at night, covered in mud and hay and stinking. The time she did find for herself was often spent with Belinda. They worked in the garden and watched their handiwork spring forth from the porch swing as they peeled potatoes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The one Anna didn’t expect to develop such a strong relationship was Cliff. Despite her years of schooling, there was much about ranch life Anna had yet to learn.He taught her to dig post holes and how to clear brush. He showed her how the four wheelers worked and how to repair a torn saddle strap. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>More than that, Anna laughed now more than ever. Whether it was over a failed attempt at strawberry pie, it still tasted fine they all insisted, or backing the trailer into the gate. Cliff had a hearty laugh and a life lesson for her every time. What a firm slap on the back and getting back on the horse couldn’t fix, a glass of Belinda’s sweet iced tea and forehead kisses did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even Kristoff got them, even though he might pretend like he didn’t. After they lost one of the show calves-the poor thing startled and ran straight into the barbed fence-snapping its neck, Kristoff had to put a bullet between his ears. There hadn’t been time to get it to the butcher, so Cliff and him broke it down in the barn. When usually Anna and Belinda would be starting dinner, they instead spent the evening canning, dehydrating, and freezing meat. Kristoff had been heartbroken, having spent his spare time hand rearing the little guy. Anna pretended not to see when his Ma leaned over to put an arm around his shoulders and give him a kiss on the cheek. “It’s the way of nature, baby. She gives, and she takes.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kristoff remained a mystery to her. He had softened some, but he still remained a skeptical presence in her life. He always seemed upset to see her, no matter how many times they did the dance of who got to use the bathroom first every morning. The few times he’d had to give her a ride out to the herd on the four wheeler before she’d learned to drive one herself, he’d been stiff and short with her. He barely touched her and by the time she’d administered the medicine and they pulled back up to the house, she felt like a pariah. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’d been in desperate need of one of those glasses of sweet tea that day. She cried herself to sleep, anyway. She didn’t know what changed after that, but he didn’t glare at her every time she came out of the bathroom before him, or took the last piece of bacon, or laughed at a joke with his mother. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before Anna knew it branding season was upon them. Spring was a flurry of activity. Bulda’s garden had burst forth in an explosion of life. Chicks joined the daily chorus as they cheeped loudly from the coop. It also brought with it a new addition to the family. Kristoff brought home a puppy, which they were training to be a herding dog. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to have much of an aptitude for anything but hanging on Kristoff’s every move. He snapped at butterflies and sniffed out rabbits, but didn’t have much interest in cows except to pad along beside them. What he lacked in natural talent, he made up for in adoration for everyone he met. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kristoff called him Sven and he spoiled him rotten. He slipped him carrots under the table during dinner and Anna knew he snuck him into bed with him every night. Once she knew Kristoff’s secret, that he was a giant softie, he stopped being quite so untouchable to her. Which was just as well, because with branding season now well under way, they had to learn to work together as a seamless team. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The day before branding started at their, more than modest-sized outfit, Belinda dragged Anna into the kitchen. Still in her pajamas, before even Cliff was awake, Belinda shoved a pile of dough at her and had commanded, “Knead.” Which is how Anna spent the next couple of hours. After she finished one batch it seemed there was always another until the kitchen was filled to the brim with fluffy, golden rolls. The smell alone was well worth the effort of her sore arms. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Paige will be here tomorrow. She’ll be able to help while you are out with the boys. My goodness! You haven’t met Paige yet! Well, wait till you meet her, she's nothing like her brother-though you should see them together-she’s the life of the party. She has two little ones Bailey and Jensen. They’re seven and four and the cutest things you ever did see, of course I may be biased. Her husband has a turf farm a couple hours south of us.” Belinda tended to talk like that, as most people do when they get older. She told long rambling stories that always felt like someone giving you a birthday present on any old day of the week.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What were Kristoff and her like?” Belinda cast a discerning eye her way from where she shucked green beans next to her on the porch. For a moment Anna feared she’d been caught, in what she didn’t know. Belinda’s mollified gaze returned to the task at hand, much to Anna’s relief. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh they’re a hoot. Paige is more traditionally funny I suppose. She always could get a laugh and raise a laugh from even the grumpiest of old codgers. Kristoff on the other hand,” She sighed and paused her movements. “Kristoff’s sense of humor is more subtle.” So subtle Anna had yet to find it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When they were just knee high to a grasshopper they got into all sorts of trouble. And they’d come back from their shenanigans and it would be written all over little Paige’s face. Kristoff could charm his way out of anything with his cleverness. I thought he might go to college after high school, but he had no interest in it, and we’re proud of him either way.” Anna searched her face for signs of the truth, only to find that Belinda meant what she said. It was a foriegn idea to Anna and she wondered what her life might have been like if she’d had parents like this. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now, of course, with Bailey and Jensen, it’s just the same! Kristoff always disappearing with them and coming back covered head to toe in mud and a bucket full of crawdaddies for supper.” She laughed to herself as she recalled the image of it and Anna couldn’t help but laugh with her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It made the time go by quicker and more pleasant as it stretched on. They made the pans of green beans and potato salad. Then so many pies Anna was dizzy with it. When Cliff and Kristoff came in, tired and hungry, they fed them dinner and went right back to cooking while they went up to bed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The next day Anna didn’t need her alarm. She could hear the trucks pulling up before the roosters had even crowed. She didn’t bother to shower, she knew it was a lost cause. She pulled on her thick denims and tucked in her long sleeved shirt. It was already stained from where they repainted the shed. She slipped her belt and socks on half asleep, before stumbling into the bathroom to attempt to tame her hair into two braids and brush her teeth . </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kristoff’s already gone, his door is wide open the way he left it every morning. Anna always closed hers, embarrassed she never seems to manage to make her bed. She nearly slipped down the stairs on her way to the kitchen. Belinda already put together breakfast, hand food that they could take with them, burritos and sandwiches. Anna grabbed an egg and cheese one which she stuffed her face with as she pulled on her boots. She took one of the baseball hats off the hooks and shoved it on her head, tightening it up as she headed out the door. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The floodlights illuminated her path as she walked up to the barn, one of the dogs following her up, to collect her tool kit and everything she’d been getting together over the last few days in anticipation for this weekend. She had the 7-way </span>
  <span>clostridial and MLV vaccines. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She found the boys all congregated around the alley gates. They were slapping each other on the back and pulling each other into rough hugs. Cliff pulled her into one of her own as she came upon them. She was introduced to a few new faces, by now she knows all the regular hands. It seemed everybody from the neighboring ranches and farms had come out to help. Suddenly she wondered if they’d made enough food. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uncle Krissy!” The blur of movement that streaked past her could easily have been mistaken for one of the ranch dogs, if not for the accompanying scream. A girl that Anna could only assume was Bailey, launched herself up the fence to look out over the coral. When she spotted the target of her enthusiasm she let out a whoop and waved her hands in the air. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, Dad.” A girl with long blonde hair pulled up in a ponytail, and a sleeping kid on her hip, came up to stand beside them. “It was a nightmare getting them up and then it was like once she was awake she had to be </span>
  <em>
    <span>awake</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I remember what it’s like, kiddo. Let me take the little tyke so you can go help out your Mama.”  Cliff obviously was itching for a chance to hold his grandson. Anna didn’t blame him, he looked adorable with his chubby cheek squished against her shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry about it, Dad. I’m going to just put him up in Krissy’s room. Hopefully he can get another few hours and we won’t have a monster on our hands.” Cliff gave him a gentle pat on the head, but didn’t argue.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let your Mama know that I’ve got an eye on Bee.” He shot a thumb toward the girl monkeying around on the pipe fencing. Paige shook her head and turned to move back toward the house. She came face to face with Anna.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there. I’m Paige, Cliff’s oldest.” She held out a hand from under the butt of her youngest. Anna gave it a firm shake. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m Anna.” She supplied. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The veterinarian?” The woman’s eyebrow went up and she looked her up and down more closely this time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s me.” She didn’t want to have to prove herself to yet another Bjorgman.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah-” It sent a shiver down her spine. She suddenly feels cornered, like the calves in the pen. “Nice to put a face to a name. Krissy’s told me so much about you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kristoff?” She didn’t have to fake her disbelief. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course, the way I hear it you two are thick as thieves.” She wasn’t joking when she acted shocked. She couldn’t imagine Kristoff saying anything nice about her at, let alone making them out as </span>
  <em>
    <span>friends</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna didn’t get a chance to ask what she meant by that. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Krissy </span>
  </em>
  <span>rode up on horseback. Sven trailed behind him, tongue-lolling. He’s wearing his wide brimmed cowboy hat, speckled with mud, and a pair of leather chaps. Anna’s seen him in various states of dress. She saw him shirtless, cutting and splicing fencing when the sun beat down too hot. She saw him in his ratty pajamas shuffling out of the bathroom with dried toothpaste crusted to his chin. But now Anna wondered if she’d ever really seen him at all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bumblebee!” He rode up to the fenceline to haul his precariously balanced niece into the saddle with him. Even on the back of a substantial sized strawberry roan he looked large. She was a beautiful horse with a stripe and snip down her face and a reverse dappled coat. Anna had the pleasure of looking after her a few times and she knew her to be expertly trained. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Paige’s words still rang in her head as she watched him with his niece. She thought of Belinda’s long stories in the garden, and Cliff’s love and quiet admiration for his son. Surely she was missing something. Something besides the way he looked, hard thighs between the chaps and the saddle. How his torso looked like a log beneath his tucked in shirt. She knew it was too, had seen it for herself, could remember the way it bulged slightly with hard earned muscle. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was still dark outside when we left my house, Krissy. I could see the moon.” Bailey proclaimed. The sky was still dark, just hinting at the first silvery threads of dusk. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re learning how to tell time at school. I read the clock in the car. It said 4:03. Do you have a watch? I can read that too.” Kristoff wasn’t wearing a watch, to which she responded that was okay, she could also tell time by the sun. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’ll have him busy for a while, tell him I’ll come say hi later and Jeff’s around here somewhere too. I can’t wait to talk to you again later, Anna.” Paige set off to the house with a wave. Her parting words settled over her ominously. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t know that Lucy was your horse.” Anna offered as Kristoff brought the girl closer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He likes red heads.” Paige called behind her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t believe anything she says, she was dropped on her head as a baby.” Kristoff whispered down to her. She didn’t miss the way his hands tightened on the reins though. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I heard that, Kris-santhemum!” Anna laughed and the sound of it drew Kristoff’s gaze. It died in her throat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re wearing my hat.” She brought a hand up to her head to grope at the ball cap on her head. She wasn’t even sure which one she was wearing she’d grabbed one in such a hurry. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh! I’m sorry. I can go change it, if you want.”She can’t tell if he’s upset or not. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, don’t. It’s-” He cleared his throat, it must have been the sleep still in his throat, his voice was always rougher in the morning. “It’s fine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna saw Kristoff in a new light that day. They worked more seamlessly than ever before and Anna had to stop and wonder, maybe their animosity wasn’t entirely his fault. She did have a tendency to steam roll. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the presence of the other men, farmers and ranchers like himself, Kristoff came out of his shell. Cliff took a back seat, Anna suspected his knees bothered him, and let his son take the reins. And take the lead he did. Kristoff shouted orders with confidence, running the operation like a finely-tuned machine. Or as much as possible when dealing with live animals with their own agenda. He joked with his friends and colleagues when the moral started to flag and somehow remembered the names of all their wives, partners, and children. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna felt disconnected from her normal cheer. The pace of the work left little time for much else, let alone losing yourself in thought. She didn’t have time to think about Kristoff’s booming laugh over the ruckus. About Cliff, shouting from his perch on the gate, “Good job, son! Bring her in!” Nor Bailey joining in whenever he roped a calf, “Yee haw!” Certainly not about how when they broke for lunch he collapsed in the seat next to her in the big cleared out garage they’d filled with folding tables and chairs. How he joked with her about the sweat that had seeped clear through the denim of his jeans along his lower back or how he’d chased her back to work by trying to give her a big, sweaty bear hug, laughing all the way. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she did think about it again that night, after she’d showered and helped Belinda cook even </span>
  <em>
    <span>more </span>
  </em>
  <span>food, she couldn’t help but think that maybe he’d never changed. That she’d just started to see what had always been there. After all, hadn’t he held her, however briefly, after they lost a litter of kittens the month before? Come to think of it, he had a habit of bringing her out egg sandwiches or cornish pasties or muffins for lunch, which she had a habit of forgetting. There’d even been a suspicious amount of hot water for her shower in the mornings lately. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She puzzled together what she knew about him as she lay in bed. There was Kristoff the son, in the pictures on the walls that Belinda regarded with pride and occasional tears in her eyes, young Kristoff dwarfed by horses and dogs alike. There was one photo of Kristoff, after graduation, gown hanging open to reveal a suit, and trousers almost concealing a pair of riding boots. His father stands with him in this picture, hand proudly on his shoulder. Kristoff’s not quite as big, his jaw not quite as strong, skin not quite as dark. Anna’s particular favorite is the one of him holding a handful of wildflowers out to his sister. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was Kristoff the brother. The one who threw his sister over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes to toss her in the hay before a screaming Bailey demanded the same treatment. He’d looked at Anna with one eyebrow raised as if to ask if she’d like it too. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Boy did she. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That left Kristoff the man. Kristoff with his raw power and quiet assurance. Kristoff with the barely concealed smoulder in his eyes that lingered on her for far too long when they fished for the trout Belinda demanded for dinner in the creek. Kristoff’s intensity had read as anger to her then. Maybe...maybe she’d been wrong. </span>
  <em>
    <span>He likes redheads.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Did she really dare to-?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The next morning dawned too bright and early. She slept through her alarm only to be awoken by Belinda. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, dear. I let you sleep as long as I could.” She smiled down at her regretfully. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can do those for you dear. You’ll want something nice to wear tomorrow for the big dance.” Anna felt wide awake. Belinda must have honed in on the heaping pile of laundry on her way out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dance?” Anna couldn’t remember the last time she’d been to a party. Sure she’d been a little bit rowdy when she’d first got to college. Who wasn’t? She’d just gotten out from under the thumb of her authoritative parents and had enjoyed having a bit of fun. She’d quickly learned that if she wanted to make her grades, she needed to wise up. Anna loved parties though. She loved throwing them, planning the food, the decorations, the music, and attending them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We have it every year after the branding. It’s a way to repay the people who come out and help. It’s a way to keep the community together.” Anna like the idea do something to tie neighbors together that wasn’t private school PTA meetings and parades of wealth disguised as charity fundraisers </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you all dress up?” She fiddled with her sheets, like she was going to make her bed, as she tried to hide the sheer excitement from her voice. The problem with this tactic was that Belinda, not one to stand by when work was being done, jumped in and helped. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know if I would call it dressing up, dear. Not by your standards, but we all wear our finest. I can polish your boots for you too if you want.” Anna blushed in embarrassment. She knew her room was a bit...messy, but she liked it that way. She knew exactly where everything was. Not to mention she was a fully grown woman having her landlady do her laundry. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re already so busy-” Anna half-heartedly attempted. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nonsense! You just leave them by the door when you head out and they’ll be ready for you when you get back.” Somehow Belinda’s not-so-gentle-insistence didn’t feel like judgement. Anna did as she was told. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The day passed more pleasantly, now that Anna had a better idea what to expect. They still burned through every ounce of daylight afforded them and then some, but they managed to finish up the whole batch. They all cheered and whooped when it was done, and Kristoff hefted her into the air by her waist, spinning her around until she was almost dizzy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he set her down he turned away to his brother-in-law to give him a slap on the back, leaving Anna reeling, unable to fully determine </span>
  <em>
    <span>what just happened</span>
  </em>
  <span>. They said their goodbyes to Paige, who gave Anna a big hug, despite both of them being smelly and sweaty, her from the cows, and Paige from the heat of the kitchen and stewing onions and garlic, and both of them from the mounds of dirty dishes they’d spent an hour scrubbing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m glad we have you, Anna.” She whispered in her ear. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kristoff helped load the kids in the car. They’d falled asleep hours earlier, bellies full of cobbler. He sent his older sister off with a firm hug and a kiss on the forehead. Paige drove, Jeff looked to already be asleep in the passenger seat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It left Kristoff and Anna alone on the driveway. He wasn’t looking at her, instead he looked out at the land, the moon reflected off the grass and the whole field swayed like waves on a great, silver river. She thought of them, right in the middle of it. She wanted to take his hand, anchor herself to his stalwart strength. Instead, she spoke and she knew instantly it was the wrong choice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m going to head in. It’s getting late.” His shoulders lost their relaxed lines at her words. Some of the tranquility fled into the night. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You go in if you want.” She forced herself to take a deep breath, to evaluate whether or not he was really upset with her, or just saying exactly what he felt, without embellishment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I’d rather stay here with you.” She tried his strategy for a change. She wasn’t as brave as him, when she said it. She wrung her hands, a bad habit since childhood. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You did good today.” He let the silence between them draw itself out for a long moment before speaking. Some of her nerves melted away by then.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you. You did too.” She meant it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t really have a choice. This ranch will be mine someday. Pops is...” Anna could feel the worry in the words left unsaid. She’d never stopped to consider that Kristoff would have felt pressure to take on the family business.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you want that? The ranch and everything?” He tore his eyes from the landscape to look down at her, astonished </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course I want it. This-” He gestured to the vast stretch of land before them, “this land, this legacy, it’s my life. One day I’ll pass it on to my kids, too.” He didn’t talk about it like an inevitability. He spoke about it like a gift. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s a beautiful fate.” She could picture it now. Could see 8x10s of Kristoff’s children on his parent’s walls. She could see him with a baby in his arms and a toddler clinging to his leg. She could see them working the land together, living in this little slice of heaven</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes it is.” She’d finally said the right thing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The next day Anna wanted nothing more than to sleep in, but she would be pretty busy for the next couple of weeks. She wondered how someone so decidedly </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>a morning person could end up with a job that required her to be up before dawn. She needed to monitor the yearlings for infections or injuries and they had more than a few pregnancies to keep an eye on as well. The work wasn’t as hard as the previous days spent rounding up cattle and the branding, but she felt the tiredness like a chain around her neck. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kristoff smiled at her across the table as he passed her the marmalade, something Belinda had started making especially for her. She startled to realize that it was a habit he’d formed over the last few months, that she had failed to notice. She stared at him until he grew uneasy in his chair and looked back to his eggs. When she finally looked away it was to find Belinda watching her curiously, something almost like a smile on her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Anna came back in, at Belinda’s beaconing, she found her in her usual place on the porch. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You radio’d?” Anna’s a little out of breath and still clutching her radio in her hand, more reliable in the foothills and great empty expanses of land than cell phones. She didn’t see anything wrong outright. Belinda was shucking a massive pile of corn. She wondered if she called her in to help. Which she was happy to do! She could have just </span>
  <em>
    <span>told </span>
  </em>
  <span>her and saved her a bit of panic.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh yes! It’s getting late and I wanted you to have enough time to get ready, Anna dear.” Anna felt her worry deflate into a puddle on the floor. Anna checked her watch, it was 3 and they weren’t expecting anyone till 5. They weren’t even eating till around 6. Anna could remember the last time she took so long getting ready, it had been her graduation. Her parents had taken her to the nicest restaurant in town and had still hummed and hawed at the food, the waitstaff, her appearance, and her manners. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wondered what they would think of her now? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna wasn’t sure how dressed up people </span>
  <em>
    <span>got </span>
  </em>
  <span>for these things. If Belinda thought it would take her </span>
  <em>
    <span>two hours </span>
  </em>
  <span>maybe she’d underestimated the dress code? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, thank you. I’ll just head in then. Are you sure you don’t need any help?” Anna felt guilty taking the time to pamper herself when everybody else was still hard at work. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll be fine. I’m almost done and Paige is bringing over the dessert and the Layton’s are bringing over the side dish. So there isn’t a lot left for me to do otherwise. Kristoff will get the big pots going and we’ll have these ready in no time! You I’m not so sure about.” She tore silk off one of the ears for emphasis. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey!” She cleaned up </span>
  <em>
    <span>very </span>
  </em>
  <span>nice, thank you very much! </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Honey, you’ve got shit on your tit.” Belinda didn’t even bother looking up when she said it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna took twice as long in the shower as she normally would. She carefully removed all the dirt from underneath her nails and delicately shaved her legs. She only cut herself once on the back of the ankle, so she’d take it as a win. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She opened her cabinet up in the bathroom to find her favorite special occasion scent. Elsa liked to buy her limited edition holiday products as a joke, but the joke was on Elsa because they were Anna’s favorite. She skipped perfume, the scent of minted sugar and nutmeg already strong on her skin. She peeked out of the bathroom door, confirmed the coast was clear, and sprinted to her room. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once behind closed doors she threw open her amouir to try and decide what to wear. She’d been planning on a pair of jeans without any holes in them and her nice belt with the bronze buckle. Instead she found herself in a long forgotten section of her closet, among the dresses. Anna loved dressing up, she missed it really, but it felt silly to put on a dress after wasn’t working when she could get called away at any moment for god knows what. It was impractical. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not tonight. Tonight she could wear whatever she wanted. She could do her hair up in milkmaid braids or a chingon, or leave it down and dig out her curling iron. She might even put on some makeup. She’d never been as good at it as Elsa, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy it. It reminded her of painting with watercolors as a kid, down to sometimes blending everything too much until it was an ugly green color. No ugly green colors tonight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So maybe she did end up with an ugly green color on one eye that she had to wipe off and start again. It all turned out alright in the end. Picking a dress was a different story. She tried on every single one in her closet before she found the one. It always made her feel beautiful with it’s elegant pleats that framed in her waist and showed off her hips nicely. The sunflowers were perfect for spring and the bateau neckline made her breasts look bigger, at least she thought so. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She had come up the stairs the night before to find Belinda had indeed shined her show boots till they looked better than the day she’d bought them. She slipped them on now and examined herself in the mirror on the back of the door. Her hair had a few run away bits, it always did, but all in all, the braid that crowned her head didn’t look too bad at all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not too shabby.” She winked at herself, yet another thing she’d yet to master. She’s just putting on the finishing touches, when there’s a knock on the door. She set the tube of mascara down and checked the clock. It was five on the dot. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh my gosh! Sorry! I’m coming!” She scrambled to clean up the mess she’d made trying on outfit after outfit and spreading her makeup across the vanity before giving up and throwing open the door. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was Paige. She wore almost exactly what Anna had initially planned, before she’d changed her mind. Her long blonde hair that cascaded down her back reminded Anna of Elsa, if only a little bit more gold and a little bit straighter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wow. You look </span>
  <em>
    <span>great</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” Paige’s hands went out to her arms, holding her in place so she could give her a good look over. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m overdressed, aren’t I?” She moved toward the pile of clothes on her bed, but found herself rebounding backward. Paige held her steady. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nope. No way am I letting you change now. You look perfect.” It did little to boost her confidence, which had taken a significant hit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can always change later if you want. It’s nice though and I really think people will make you feel welcome. They’ll be tickled you think so highly of our little get-togethers.” She sensed Anna’s trepidation and somehow managed to say exactly the right thing. Or as close as she could get. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They made their way down to the kitchen where Belinda was ordering the troops around. She even had little Jensen helping out, though his job was to make sure that Sven stayed out of the way. So far that only meant that they had both boy and dog underfoot. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Anna dear, don’t you just look lovely.” Anna’s relieved to see at least she is wearing a dress also. It was a simple wrap dress with a calico pattern, much more informal than Anna’s, but at least there was that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you. How can I help?” She was suddenly made aware of how indulgent her time upstairs had been. It was clear everyone had been working hard right under nose for some time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why don’t you take out the icebox pies out of the cooler honey?” Anna grabbed two, and Paige grabbed the remaining two and they carried them out to the garage. The porch had been decorated with christmas lights at some point and they twinkled now in the fading light. Music was already playing in the background, and the driveway had been converted into a makeshift dance floor. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They made their way into the warm light of the garage where six foot tables lined the walls and were piled high with food. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Krissy where do you want these?” Paige called as they entered. Anna might have preferred not to draw any attention to herself, but that was difficult where Paige was concerned, as Anna was quickly learning. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just put ‘em in the-” Kristoff turned from where he’d been helping Bailey put out serving utensils. His eyes settled from his sister to her. He stood still for a moment, and then another. She could see more than feel his eyes as the flick over her hair, her dress, her boots, her breasts, </span>
  <em>
    <span>had she imagined that</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and finally to her face. He cleared his throat rather forcefully, one large fist coming up to cover his mouth before using it to point to the corner.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They go at the end there.” Anna was grateful to put the pies down, they weren’t heavy, but it ached to hold them steady, with as clumsy as she was. Not to mention the gaze of a certain someone had her shaking for a different reason. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“See, I told you so.” Paige whispered from next to her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Surely Anna heard her wrong. </span>
</p><p><span>“Come on, Krissy couldn’t take his eyes off of you. In fact, he’s probably staring at your ass right now. The man’s a team roping champion. I’ve never seen him miss as many tries as yesterday, what with you bending over every five seconds.” That was not how Anna remembered the last couple of days, but Paige did provide a subjective, or relatively subjective, point of view. Anna snuck a quick peek over her shoulder. Kristoff was not looking at her after all, which worked in her favor. Anna took the opportunity to look </span><em><span>him</span></em> <span>over. </span></p><p>
  <span>He’s wearing vibrant, blue Wranglers, telltale W stitched on the pockets. They weren’t the only thing that drew attention to his bum. His belt is stamped leather, a proper rodeo belt, with </span>
  <em>
    <span>Bjorgman</span>
  </em>
  <span> embossed across the back. His maroon button down is tucked in at the waist and whenever he moved it stretched across the wide expanse of his back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His hair barely peaked out from under his Stetson, curling up a bit at the nape of his neck. He’s tan there, darker than anywhere else on his body. She imagined what it might be like, just to press her lips there-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If I could have your attention for a moment.” Anna jumped and quickly looked away, decidedly ignoring Paige’s presence beside her. Cliff’s voice boomed into every corner of the room. Anna turned to find him standing in front of the seated crowd, arm round Belinda’s shoulders. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’d like to thank ya’ll for coming out. Your friendship means-” He cleared his throat, a little choked up. Paige reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. “It means the world to us Bjorgman’s.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now, enough of that, old man. Let’s eat!” Belinda cut in. Her cheer was genuine, but it was a clever deflection from her husband’s heightened emotion. While the loving group of friends and neighbors turned their attention to the food, Anna watched as Belinda lovingly took her husband's hand in hers and kissed it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna ended up sitting between Cliff and Jensen. Paige sat on the other side of him, helping cut up his food and make it more manageable. Her husband sat across from her and as usual Bailey was glued to Kristoff’s right hand. Which put Kristoff right across from her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He slipped her more of the chocolate, bourbon, pecan pie off his plate when she ate all of her own. Whenever someone came up to congratulate them, or strike up a conversation, he always made sure to include Anna. By the end of the meal alone, she’s made more new friends than in the several months she’s been there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were still talking and laughing, retelling stories of Cliff trying to teach the kids to drive, when Jeff got up to turn the music up. Paige followed with the kids as if on cue. She fell into his arms easily. It was obvious this was something they’d done time and time again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shall we dance?” Cliff stood, hand out to his wife, leaving Anna and Kristoff alone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re very good. Did they teach you both to dance?” Anna had watched them for a moment, the easy way their bodies moved together, bodies that knew each other. Paige and Jeff didn’t have the same ease, but they didn’t have the almost 40 years her parents did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ma insisted on it.” His eyes also watched them move across the dancefloor, under the canopy of lights.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She waited for him  to ask her. She really did. Only, they sat in silence. When the song changed, Cliff came to bow dramatically in front of her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“May I have this dance?” That was how Anna learned the two step. She danced with Jensen next, who was eager to be spun in circles, and then Paige who taught her a bit of country swing. Her dress twirled around her knees as she spun. She was laughing and giddy when she found herself caught up in Kristoff’s arms. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Later, she would try to remember the song that had played, what the light had looked like pouring out of the open garage into the dark night. She’d try and recall who else was there, or what time it was, but those details had been lost. She wasn’t sure she ever remembered them in the first place. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>All Anna could think of was the way she could feel the heat from his body where her hand rested against his chest. His shoulder was just within reach, but it was far more comfortable to let her palm slide down his chest to rest by his heart. It brought her slightly closer to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was easy to imagine having this all the time. The tender hold of his hand at her waist, the feel of his fingers sliding against hers. She could feel the rough calluses on his hands and it made her shiver. He pulled her a bit closer. It brought her nose to his chest where she could </span>
  <em>
    <span>smell </span>
  </em>
  <span>him. He smelled clean and manly and warm. She dared to peek up at him. He looked back at her, probably had been watching for some time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their movements slowed nearly to a stop. It would have been so easy for her to kiss him then. Her head tilted up toward him, ear brushing the buttons of his shirt. His thumb ghosted along the small of her back and her eyelids fluttered with it, like somehow his large hands held the strings to command her like a puppet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She let her head fall onto his chest, firm and forgiving, as it cushioned her cheek. They stayed there, like that, swaying gently until the song changed. It jarred them from their revelry, to hear the upbeat percussion and loud, proud twang. She expected him to let her go, but instead he brought his mouth down to whisper in her ear. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just follow me, I’ve got you.” She swore she felt the brush of his lips, could feel the kiss of it drying on her skin. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Thank god and the devil she didn’t have to pay attention to the steps, because after that she was a goner. Her breath never fully seemed to return to her, and her hands were shaky where his were firm, so neither of them got left behind. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She had to pull away when the song ended, felt the loss of his thigh pressed between her legs keenly. Belinda cut in, claiming her dance with her baby boy. Kristoff protested the nickname, but he took her in his arms with no protest at all to lead her around the dance floor. Anna watched on, imagining a much younger, smaller Kristoff standing on the tops of her feet as she counted out the steps. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna didn’t know when she started tearing up, until she felt the trickle of moisture down her cheek. She silently excused herself and slipped away into the night. She started walking without a clear picture of where she was going, only to get away from the rending she felt in her soul. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>This pain was something she knew intimately. The pain of wanting what she couldn’t have. She wondered when she started to build so much more than a life here. She’d never been one to take things lying down, but how did one approach love? Like a blind calf, starting at ever sound, in need of a steady hand? Or-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Anna?” She might have thought she’d imagined the sound of her name on his tongue if she couldn’t hear the crunch of his boots on the gravel as he approached her. Surely her mind couldn’t form in such perfect detail the way he </span>
  <em>
    <span>looked</span>
  </em>
  <span> as she turned to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kristoff, hey.” She doesn’t know what to say. Anna always had something to say. So why was she coming up empty now?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is everything alright?” The earnestness of his tone brought a fresh wave of tears to her eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes.” She lied and gave him her most convincing smile. He was still a few feet away so she stood a chance of persuading him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was worried that I...upset you back there, you know with the dancing. I should have asked you first.” He slid his hands into his front pockets, the nervous gesture made him shrink in on himself, she wondered if he was subconsciously trying to make himself less intimidating.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kristoff, it’s fine.” She felt the way that sat inside her, the wrongness of it. “No, you know what-it’s not fine.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She could see the surprise on his face quickly turn to a grimace, imagined the things he must be thinking. It wasn’t her goal to make him feel bad, to doubt the way that he’d </span>
  <em>
    <span>touched </span>
  </em>
  <span>her, she had to keep talking now to fix it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because I think I might love you.” She said it first, so she’d already done her worse, the only thing to do then was press on. Onward and upwards.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know it’s only been a few months, we basically just met. But your parents only knew each other for a few weeks before they knew they’d met the one. Not that I’m asking you to marry me or have babies with me or anything. I mean, I’ve thought about it, but-” She got off topic. She was pretty sure </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>was the worst thing she could have said, so all there was left to do was to finish alienating him entirely. More like backwards and downwards. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you can’t-” She thought she might maybe cry again, but she swallowed her tears, remembering she </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span> to do this. “You can’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>hold</span>
  </em>
  <span> me like that okay? Because I love you and when you hold me, you have to let go, and it feels like my heart might break afterward. And I can’t-” She couldn’t catch the words in the air and pull them back inside her, wasn’t sure she wanted to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you going to ask me?” She finally looked at him. He didn’t look angry or uncomfortable, or any of the things Anna imagined he might be. Well, he did look like he might have been angry. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ask you what?” She furrowed her brow. After everything she just said, that was what he went with?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If I love you too.” The word on his lips drew the breath from her lungs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But-” Anna doesn’t want to ask. Why would he ask her that if he didn’t...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ask me.” He took a step closer to her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you-have feelings for me?” The words struggled to leave her lips, unlike the torrent she’d released mere moments before. He took another step. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, Anna.” There’s no doubt, no discomfort, no denial in his voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you-” She thought maybe she could hope for more as he took yet another step toward her. “Do you love me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes. Anna.” His next step brought them close enough to make her shiver. It was like someone holding a finger close to your skin, a game of I’m-not-touching-you. She felt his presence on her skin like a caress, without him </span>
  <em>
    <span>touching</span>
  </em>
  <span> her at all. “I love you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh.” She didn’t know what to say now. She was thinking about other things, like what those words would taste like. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ask me if I think about marrying you-if I think about our babies.” His breath tickled her her eyelashes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kristoff.” It was a plea. She couldn’t say the words. Didn’t dare to </span>
  <em>
    <span>dream</span>
  </em>
  <span>-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, Anna.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His kiss was searing. There was no shyness when his lips met hers for the first time. It was the kiss of someone who knew what they wanted and Kristoff certainly knew his own mind. His hand came up to hold her jaw in place as he kissed her, his fingers spanning the length of her neck. She was on fire with it by the time he pulled away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kristoff, I don’t want to stop. I want-” He kissed the words hungrily from her lips and she hoped maybe this meant he would give her what she wanted. The embers that had kindled in her for hours flared to life under his touch. She whined against his lips when they parted from hers, chasing after them, to no avail. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shh. I know. I want that too. God I want that.” She thought of the guests on the lawn and Cliff and Belinda’s bedroom two doors down. She had resigned herself to the ache when he pulled her to the barn. He grabbed a rucksack from one of the pegs and fired up one of the four wheelers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hop on.” His grin could stop her heart.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He helped her swing her dress over the seat before he hauled himself behind her. He took a moment to bury his face in the crook of her neck before tracing the freckles on her shoulder with his lips. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kristoff.” She sighed and fell back against him. He groaned and ground himself against her back in a tantalizing way that left little doubt just </span>
  <em>
    <span>where</span>
  </em>
  <span> they were going. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hold on tight.” He growled. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The cool night air was a welcome relief on her overheated skin. Kristoff’s chest against her back kept the chill from becoming overwhelming. He drove for a long time. Anna wondered if the others would notice they were gone, surely when it came time to do the dishes and put up the tables and chairs their absence would be noticed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She couldn’t bring herself to regret it. Not when Kristoff whispered delicious things in her ear. She wanted to say something back, but it would be drowned out by the engine. So instead she sat back and enjoyed the rumble between her legs and the rumble of his voice. He told her how much he wanted to see her ride him, how he’d take her hair out of it’s braid so he could feel it against him while he fucked her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She clung to these promises as they came to a stop on an old hill. He turned off the ATV, plunging them into silence, broken up only by the sound of crickets and the wind against the grass. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pulled him into a kiss as soon as he’d climbed off. He deepened it immediately, only breaking away to pull out a large blanket and place it a short distance away. He stalked back to Anna with purpose. He took his hat off as he did, tossing it carelessly aside, freeing his hands to come around her body and grasp her ass. His silver belt buckle gleamed in the moonlight and she itched to take it off and see what lay underneath. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You looked nice tonight.” It slowed the moment a little, stretched it longer, felt like savoring it. He grinned a crooked little grin. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not as good as you, Anna.” He looked down appreciatively at the dress she wore. It made her blush, but she made a mental note to thank Paige, and Belinda, if she didn’t die of embarrassment first. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I like you in leather.” She tugged his belt to bring his hips flush with her. He groaned and dropped his head forward onto her shoulder. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fuck Anna. You can’t just </span>
  <em>
    <span>say</span>
  </em>
  <span> things like that.” She was addicted to the high it gave her already, to make him come apart like this. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like you can’t just say how you want to know what my cunt tastes like?” She’d meant it to be a joke, an echo of his earlier words, but the memory of his desperate confession turned her voice breathless and needy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Yes</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” He bucked against her, fingers digging into her ass as they dragged her ever closer. The position forced her onto her tiptoes. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders to keep her balance. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is this real?” Every part of her touched a part of him, it didn’t matter that layers of clothes separated them, his embrace was more than she could have hoped for. He lifted her so that her feet left the ground. His hands slid to hold her thighs. He leaned back till their foreheads touched, noses brushed gently, and the featherlight caress of his eyelashes kissed her skin. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m still not convinced you're not an angel.” It actually made Anna laugh. She knew it was meant to be sweet and God it really was, but as she thought of the long road to this point she couldn’t help but see the irony. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think we both know I’m no angel.” Kristoff lifted a mischievous eyebrow, golden brown eyes flicked to her lips. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh? Is that right feisty pants?” Anna leaned forward to nip his kiss swollen lip. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You should be so lucky as to get in my pants.” Lucky for him, she was wearing a dress.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know about that, my chances are looking pretty good.” He drove his hips up just as he brought her down against him. It stole any retort from her tongue. He walked her to the blanket and laid her down gently as he brought his body down above her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His hair was slicked back from being under a hat all day. She desperately wanted to ruin it, to ruin him. It’s a startling revelation to realize she </span>
  <em>
    <span>can</span>
  </em>
  <span>. She wasted no time tangling her fingers in the blonde hair. It was softer than she ever imagined. And she’d imagined. Boy had she imagined. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kristoff, take off your shirt.” He pulled away from where he sucked possessive marks down her neck, his own personal brand. She had to tug his hair a little to get him off. He groaned as his lips left her skin. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jesus, Anna.” He didn’t even waste his time, tugged the tails from his pants and only unbuttoned the first few buttons, just enough to pull it up and over his head by the collar. Anna’s a little disappointed, but she knows she’ll just have to make him strip for her </span>
  <em>
    <span>next </span>
  </em>
  <span>time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She brought her hands, calloused in their own right, to catalogue the landscape she had seen so many times, but never been able to touch. His skin gives under her curious hands in a wonderful way. At the feel of her hands against him, he moved to remove his belt, anticipating the feel of her in other places. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pulled the belt out in one strong tug and it joined the growing pile beside them. He had his button undone and started on the zipper by the time her questing fingers found his. He groaned as the pressure of his zipper disappeared. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My turn.” She prompted him. She sat up enough that he could get to the zipper down the back of her dress. She couldn’t focus on his hands when her face was so close to his chest. The hair there set the nerve endings of her lips alight as she brought them down on his sternum. He made encouraging sounds, so she opened her lips wider, moved to the fuller skin on either side. She was nipping down to the give of his belly when he managed to get her name out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Anna.” It’s a wrecked, needy sound. A warning even. She pulled back to look at him. His eyes are closed tightly, tiny lines from years in the sun and big, ear splitting smiles, spider out from the corners. She kissed those too. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>At some point he’d managed to get her dress all the way unzipped. The straps fell limp against her shoulders. She was so close to feeling what his bare skin felt like against hers. She wanted to know what his chest hair felt like against the peaks of her breasts. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She waited patiently for him to open his eyes. When she had his undivided attention, she let it slip from her shoulders, peeling it down her body until he had to lean back in order for her to slip it down her thighs and over her feet. He carefully removed her boots, one by one, trailing kisses up her ankles as he went. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think I spent my whole life waiting for this view.” What could she say to that, except to kiss him? His lips didn’t stay on hers for long, not with all the new bits of her to explore. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And explore he did. He was nuzzling the swell of her breast that spilled over the cup of her bra when she felt his smile. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” The temptation to give a penny for his thoughts was too great. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is my favorite one.” Her bra? When had Kristoff seen her </span>
  <em>
    <span>bra?</span>
  </em>
  <span> She did have a habit of leaving them hanging in the laundry room, but did he really have a favorite?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” She gave him a chance to explain himself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lotion, you have all those bottles, but this one is the best.” He’s running his nose along an imaginary line, from her heart, to dip between her collarbones, under her jaw, to the corner of her lips. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’ve been huffing my lotion?” He stopped placing little, lazy kisses there to pull back, exposing the blush that crept up his neck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My hands were really dry, and we were out of bag balm,so I was just going to borrow some-” The pieces were already starting to come together for her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait! Is that why I always find the lids popped open?” He looked sufficiently chastened, a little bit like Sven when he got caught stealing from the cat bowl. They did say people looked like their dogs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, ya. Sorry.” He really didn’t seem very sorry at all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought it was the altitude or something.” She’d even wondered if the heat from the shower steam was causing the bottles to expand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nope.” He leaned down to kiss the smile on her lips. “I want to know how you smell somewhere else.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ya?” She searched his face for a sign that he really wanted to do this, that it wasn’t just something he felt obligated to do.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Ya.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” He moved to take off her underwear, doing so with an efficiency that made their pattern and style completely irrelevant. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He lowered himself between her legs, taking a long moment to run his hands along her thighs, to watch her shiver when they reached the back of her knees as he spread them nice and wide. Anna was grateful she was flexible enough to accommodate the wide span of his shoulders and delighted in the tingling stretch when she reached her limit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She could see him while he propped himself up by the elbows, but when he lowered himself down, she had to crane her neck. He took a long breath and Anna could feel the flush move down her chest. What if she smelled? She’d sweated a little when they’d danced and it had been hours since she’d showered. He might not like it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That thought was driven from her mind when he moaned and brought his nose to part her ginger curls. Her head fell back against the blanket. She could only feel what happened next. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He opened his lips against her much as he did against her </span>
  <em>
    <span>other </span>
  </em>
  <span>lips. Like a french kiss for her pussy. She swore he spelled his name on her clit. He wanted to own her body and Anna would give it to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yours Kristoff, I promise. It’s all yours.” The vibrations of his groan drove her even higher. She mourned the loss of his lips, his nose, his whiskers, on her cunt when he lifted himself up to kiss her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mine.” He growled against her lips and she tasted herself. It marked him the same way he marked her and she craved it. Craved more. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can you take your hair out?” It’s an honest request, stripped of sensuality, but it sent a throb to her core nonetheless. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought you said you’d do that part?” She teased.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It looks a little complicated.” He looked part intimidated and part very, very, impatient.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why don’t I teach you then?” The words sent a shudder down his spine. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Anna</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” She laughed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, another time.” She made quick work of unweaving the braids and let her hair fall in long waves around them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kristoff, I’m already naked and you’re still wearing your jeans.” She gently reminded him after he’d stared at her for a long time. She didn’t know how he could forget about the bulge straining against the front of his boxers. She certainly hadn’t. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Later, when he was finally naked beneath her, she would realize why. The moonlight bathed him in a light that made him look otherworldly. Like he’d raised from stone, a spirit of the earth, come to steal her away into the night. The tall grass swayed around them, cocooning them inside it’s safety and she took him inside hers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The stretch of her walls as she sank down on his cock was enough to make her believe in God but it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>Kristoff’s </span>
  </em>
  <span>name that fell from her lips like a prayer. His hands on her hips gripped hard enough to bruise. She wondered if she would be covered in them in the morning. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she lifted herself up onto her knees and sank back down his hips rocked up to meet her in a motion that moved through his body like a rolling wave. She kept going until her thighs shook from the effort. Kristoff was coming to pieces beneath her, but the position didn’t do much to bring her closer, instead it was like the feeding of a steady flame, enough to keep it fed, but not enough for the embers to </span>
  <em>
    <span>burn</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stopped her bouncing with him all the way inside her. She  placed her hands on his chest and tilted her pelvis forward to rub against him, dragging herself against smooth skin and coarse blonde hair that trailed up to his belly button. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She rocked herself there, occasionally adding a swirl of her hips, until she felt the fire stoking again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Anna, I need to move, please.” Against his will, his hips bucked up and she almost lost her balance. She admired him for letting her perch above him, taking her pleasure, patiently waiting for his reward. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Switch me places.” She wanted to know what he looked like framed by stars. The shuffle was a bit awkward, but they managed it. The blanket was completely wrinkled by now, and Anna could feel grass against her back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She could just reach his neck from this position, but if she stretched a bit further, pulled him into her arms, wrapped her legs around his hips, she could kiss the skin there. The skin that even when it wasn't sunburned always looks a little bit darker than the rest of him. Kristoff's cock flushed the same color, their secret painted on his skin. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you.” She gasped, tasted the sheen of sweat on his skin as she did. The words still felt untried and unsteady, a fawn on new legs. She wanted them to be a reminder. Next time she said those words he would think of this and </span>
  <em>
    <span>know</span>
  </em>
  <span>. She never wanted him to forget what her embrace felt like, his face buried in her hair, his cock buried in her cunt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Propping himself up with one elbow, he reached between their bodies to find her clit, rubbing with unpracticed circles that were just enough to send her over the edge. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you Anna.” He soothed as she fell over the edge before he was grunting with the exertion and spilling inside her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She savored the weight of him on top of her before her lungs started gasping for a full breath and she nudged him to roll over. He took her hand as he did so that they still held each other as the sweat dried on their skin. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The cool, night air tightened her nipples, almost painfully, and she sent her scrambling for her clothes. Kristoff, on the other hand, seemed happy enough to lay out in the breeze naked as the day he was born. It was a nice sight. One Anna loathed to lose. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She thought of the house, the light on the porch Belinda always left on when someone hadn’t made it in yet, and thinks the better of it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She dressed in her underwear under the mournful gaze of one sex drunk Kristoff Bjorgman. He stood to zip up her dress, kissed goodbye every inch of skin as it disappeared from sight. Anna had to search through the flattened grass for a hair tie to keep the tangled mess out of their faces on the ride home.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna folded the damp blanket while he dressed. He didn’t even make an attempt not to look fucked. His hair stuck up wildly, his shirt half-tucked in, and his belt hung uselessly through the loops, unbuckled. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sneaking back into the house was easy enough. There wasn’t sight or sound of a single soul as they crept up the stairs. Their only obstacle was Kristoff, who got distracted halfway up by her bum and proceeded to bury his face in it, much to Anna’s mortification. He gave it one last reverent kiss before giving in to Anna’s shooing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They stood outside her door, like teenagers after a first date. She supposed one of those things was true. If it were a date, it was certainly the best one she’d ever had. With any luck, she’d even get a goodnight kiss. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luck did indeed shine on her as Kristoff leaned down to pin her against the wall and leave her with a lingering kiss. She pursued his lips he pulled away, but only succeeded in begging one more peck on the lips. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good night Anna.” He whispered. She wanted him to follow her into her room and whisper to her some more. Sadly, Sven already was alerted to their presence and let out excited little yips at the sight of his person. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sweet dreams, Kristoff.” She whispered back as he walked away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t need ‘em.” He winked at her over his shoulder and shut the door behind him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span> Monday morning dawned bright and early. Anna had showered the night before and mourned the loss of Kristoff’s cologne on her skin. </span>
  <em>
    <span>If</span>
  </em>
  <span> she had stolen the bottle from his cupboard and sprayed some on her pillow, he would be none the wiser. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It saved her time that morning. She could sleep in past her second alarm, and even the third, before she had to get up and get dressed. Her dress from the night before is on the floor, slightly grass stained and wrinkled. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It looked like a promise. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She smiled the whole way to the bathroom. She smiled while she brushed her teeth. She smiled while she combed and braided her hair. She smiled when she opened the door and marched straight into Kristoff. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He took it in stride, looping his arms around her to pull her close. She thought maybe she would get a good morning kiss right about now. He leaned down within reach, when his lips deviated from their path to nip at her ear. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Guess how many mosquito bites are on my ass?” Anna couldn’t help but laugh, even if she was thinking about rubbing chamomile on them. The thought is just as funny as it is sexy. More so when considered that Kristoff would go for it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His chuckle sent shivers down her spine. She heard Cliff’s boot on the hardwood downstairs and Belinda clang pots and pans. The roosters crowed and in the distance sounds of the hungry herd filtered through the walls. Everything screamed at them to get up and start the day and the only thing Anna could think about was dragging him back to bed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Probably about as many as I have bruises.” She teased.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shit Anna, did I really?” He stopped his playful nipping, to come around to face her, holding her by the shoulders. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you ever.” His throat strained as he swallowed against the guilt lodged there. “And I liked it. Does this shirt go high enough? I wasn’t sure it would cover all your marks.” She’d been forced to wear a button up and do every button to the very top of the collar. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes.” Kristoff looked her over, eyes dark and wanting. “Regrettably.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kristoff. I have to go downstairs and eat breakfast with your </span>
  <em>
    <span>mother</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” He didn’t seem to understand the seriousness of the situation. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh. Don’t worry about that. The woman is a bloodhound. I’m pretty sure she already knows.” He shrugged and headed for the stairs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s been hours.” She called after him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Exactly.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Life with Kristoff turned out to be better than Anna could have imagined. Between stolen kisses and rolls in the hay-”Ow! Kristoff that </span>
  <em>
    <span>hurts</span>
  </em>
  <span>”, whispered sweet nothings and their first fight (as a couple) “Sven is so not staying in her while we have sex.” “He’s a dog, he doesn’t even know what’s going on.” “If you don’t put him outside I swear to god-”, to impromptu dances in the kitchen and nursing Kristoff’s allergies when he’d insisted “It’s a field of flowers darlin’, come on it’ll be </span>
  <em>
    <span>romantic</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Anna only fell more in love with him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After Cliff had walked in on them during one of their more eventful, make out sessions on the couch, Kristoff started building them a house a couple miles down the road. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna had gotten out of bed to get a drink of water to find Kristoff on the couch bathed in the glow of the TV. A spoon hung out of his mouth, like he’d taken a bite and forgotten about it. A pint of ice cream balanced on his belly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna ducked into the room and it drew his attention away from what was on the TV, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I Love Lucy</span>
  </em>
  <span>, when Anna got a chance to check. He started to straighten up, grabbing the pint and spoon and scrambling to make his position less incriminating. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you eating the chunky monkey </span>
  <em>
    <span>without </span>
  </em>
  <span>me?” She raised an eyebrow for added effect, remembering to put her hands on her hips at the last moment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No?” He tried to hid it behind a pillow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Scooch over.” She plopped down next to him, which actually meant pretty much in his lap. “And hand me that spoon.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Turned out sharing a spoon wasn’t such a good idea. It rapidly devolved into them making out on the couch, Ricky Ricardo yelling in the background. She was pinned to the cushions, riding his thigh, when it happened. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And, sadly, it wasn’t her orgasm. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think it’d be better for us all if we just pretend this didn’t happen.” Anna screeched and dove behind a throw pillow in mortification. Kristoff held himself over her, stock still. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ya, I’d think that would be for the best, Pops.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It didn’t matter that they already </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Anna had asked Belinda how to get the stains out of her party dress after all. She was still mortified. There was a big difference between the implication that they had sex and the confirmation. Direct. Confirmation. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kristoff could be found every spare moment out at the flourishing homestead. Anna stopped doubting her place in his life once and for all when he asked her to pick out the kitchen tiles. It finally started to feel like a place that would be</span>
  <em>
    <span> theirs</span>
  </em>
  <span>. If he wanted to get rid of her now, it would be a lot harder than ripping out those kitchen tiles. He was stuck with her. Like glue. Or grout. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The day after they moved in, Anna stood at the sink, looking out the window. “Every sink should have a window in front of it.” Kristoff had said. “So you can look out at something you love, when you’re elbow deep in greasy water.” Belinda’s window looked out on her garden and chickens. Paige’s, as Anna came to learn, looked out on the kid’s playset in the backyard. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna’s…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well, Anna’s looked out on a hill. </span>
</p><p><br/>
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</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>No beta no problem</p></blockquote></div></div>
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